Cable TV subscriptions

American cable TV subscriptions and the US birth rate, both falling. Two domestic trends that used to be considered defaults, both retiring on the same schedule, neither aware of the other but both responsive to the same generational shift.

US cable TV subscriptions fell from about 90 million in 2016 to under 60 million by 2022 as cord-cutting accelerated and streaming displaced the bundle. The US birth rate fell from about 12.4 per thousand in 2016 to roughly 11 by 2022 as housing costs, student debt, and shifting preferences delayed or foreclosed parenthood. Two unrelated declines sharing a window because the same generation that cut the cord also delayed having children. Different decisions, same generation.

A generation said goodbye to two things at once. The cable bill and the maternity ward, both quieter.